From October 31, 2025 to May 01, 2026
In an age where photographs drift seamlessly through digital space—appearing on screens, detached from any sense of material presence—it is easy to forget that photographs were once tangible things. They were objects to be held, exchanged, and cherished, carrying the physical weight of memory. Early photographs were not only images but also artifacts: mounted on card stock, encased in lockets, or assembled in albums that told personal histories. This tactile connection between image and object shaped how people experienced photography, granting it intimacy and permanence.
The exhibition What Photographs Look Like revisits this layered understanding of the medium, taking inspiration from the words of Peter Bunnell, a pioneering historian of photography and longtime Princeton scholar. In the 1970s, Bunnell used the phrase to challenge his students’ assumptions about photography as flat or purely visual. For him, photographs could take on unexpected forms—drawings, collages, assemblages, or sculptural constructions—each expanding the definition of what a photograph could be. His teaching and curatorial work invited a more playful, exploratory relationship with the medium, one that celebrated its elasticity and inventiveness.
Today, photography continues to evolve in ways Bunnell might have admired. Artists manipulate light-sensitive materials, experiment with chemical reactions, or build three-dimensional installations that bridge the physical and digital. Even in a time dominated by screens, many photographers return to the physical print as a way to restore presence and touch.
Through a rich selection of works drawn from Princeton’s collection, What Photographs Look Like reveals photography’s enduring capacity to surprise. Whether fragile or monumental, ephemeral or lasting, each work invites viewers to look again—beyond the image—to the photograph as an object shaped by time, process, and imagination.
Image:
Dora Maar, Photogram of woman in profile, ca. 1935. Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, gift of Robert J. Fisher, Class of 1975, and Mrs. Fisher. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris